There are plenty of wonderful scenes in Russell T Davies’ new prestige three-part drama Nolly (ITVX/STV), but one in particular speaks to the real purpose of this story.
Dismissively written out of her series-defining role as Meg Mortimer in classic British soap opera Crossroads in 1981, Noele ‘Nolly’ Gordon (Helena Bonham-Carter) takes the bus for a late-night window-shopping trip with her co-star and best friend Tony Adams (Augustus Prew).
Sneery older man
On the way, women sitting around her nervously sympathise with her real-life soap opera, wondering why she was canned, when she’s the beloved star of the show.
One sneery older gent pipes up about his disdain for the show. It’s fluffy and inconsequential stuff, he says, sneerily implying this means it’s only fit for women.
Nolly, with dry but barely suppressed anger, tears strips off him, mocking his sexual prowess in the process.
At its heart, this is a show about a capable and confident woman whose career lies entirely at the mercy of men’s opinions of her – a story which unfortunately hasn’t grown old in the 40 years since.
It’s strange to see the offscreen history of the Crossroads Motel lionised in such glossily nostalgic style, given how it was well-known in its day – as grainily re-enacted clips show – for cheap-looking production values and often hilariously bad acting.
Behind-the-scenes view
Yet as seen in the mighty It’s a Sin, Davies has a powerful affection for the hidden behind-the-scenes stories of popular British television, a nation-shaping medium like few others since the Second World War.
Especially the golden age of the soap opera, when having a regional accent was a serious deficiency.
Scotland’s own Take the High Road gets a mention, although Nolly refuses to watch Coronation Street.
Crossroads, with an audience of 15 million at its peak, was a significant part of this era, and Noele Gordon is an unjustly forgotten star in Davies’ eyes. Surely the irony of casting a genuine movie star in the role was intentional.
Bonham-Carter, it must be said, deserves to pick up a BAFTA for her performance, which is pitch-perfect in every regard.
To young actor Poppy (Bethany Antonia), her Nolly is to be feared on her first day on set, and to director Jack (Con O’Neill) she’s a domineering but insufferably talented control freak.
Love letter to acting
“I am making this show better if I have to haul it out of the grave line-by-line,” she announces. Yet in a tenderly insecure moment, alone with her close friend Larry Grayson, she wonders of the public, “what do they see when they look at me?”
“I’m just a middling actress in a middling show and that is fine,” is Nolly’s own assessment, but Davies’ love letter to the acting craft says she was so much more by the very fact of her familiarity to millions.
Nolly can be streamed online through ITV’s ITVX service, meaning you’ll have to go through the STV site to get it in Scotland, or wait for it to be broadcast on the network in the near future.
Either way, it comes highly recommended, and builds the appetite even more ahead of the increasingly masterful Davies’ hotly anticipated return to Doctor Who later this year.
